Creating interactive zones

Abstract

Some implementations disclosed herein provide techniques and arrangements to enable interactive zones. For example, some implementations detect that a user has entered a zone associated with a physical object, where the zone is created via magnetic induction. In response to detecting that the user has entered the zone, some implementations send a virtual object representation of the physical object to a user device (e.g., a wireless phone) associated with the user. The user may interact with the virtual object, including selecting a command associated with the virtual object. Selecting the command may cause the physical object to perform one or more actions. In some implementations, a result of the physical object performing the one or more actions is sent to the user device.

1 . A method comprising:
 receiving a notification that a user has entered a zone associated with a physical object, the zone created via magnetic inductance;   sending, to a computing device associated with the user, a virtual object representation of the physical object;   receiving a command for the physical object from the computing device; and   in response to receiving the command, sending an instruction that causes the physical object to perform one or more actions.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 determining a result of causing the physical object to perform the one or more actions; and   sending the result to the user device.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an event subscription request for an event associated with the physical object; and   associating the user device with the event.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , further comprising, in response to detecting that the event associated with the physical object has occurred, sending an event notification to the user device. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising performing a discovery handshake with the user device after detecting that the user has entered the zone. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising sending at least a portion of an internet protocol address to the user device after detecting that the user has entered the zone. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user device is a wireless computing device. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the virtual object representation includes properties associated with the physical object. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the properties include metadata identifying one or more a state associated with the physical object, a command associated with the physical object, or an event associated with the physical object. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the virtual object representation includes data identifying a hierarchical relationship between the physical object and one or more additional objects that are associated with the physical object. 
     
     
         11 . A user device comprising:
 one or more processors; and   computer-readable storage media including instructions executable by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
 receiving, from a server, a virtual object corresponding to a physical object, the virtual object including properties associated with the virtual object; 
 providing the virtual object for display at a display device, the virtual object having interactive properties; 
 receiving a selection identifying a first command based on the interactive properties; 
 sending the first command to the server; and 
 receiving, from the server, a result of performing the first command. 
   
     
     
         12 . The computer-readable media of  claim 11 , the operations further comprising:
 before receiving the virtual object, receiving an object discovery notification identifying the physical object;   providing an indication to the user that the physical object has been identified; and   receiving an instruction from the user to enable interaction with the physical object.   
     
     
         13 . The computer-readable media of  claim 11 , wherein the virtual object includes one or more states associated with the physical object. 
     
     
         14 . The computer-readable media of  claim 11 , wherein the virtual object includes one or more events associated with the physical object. 
     
     
         15 . The computer-readable media of  claim 14 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving a second selection from the user identifying a particular event of the one or more events; and   sending an event subscription request to a zone device associated with the physical object, the event subscription request identifying the particular event.   
     
     
         16 . The computer-readable media of  claim 15 , the operations further comprising:
 receiving a notification that the particular event has occurred; and   sending a second command of the plurality of commands to the zone device associated with the physical object.   
     
     
         17 . A system comprising:
 a zone device including a processor and a memory to store instructions, the instructions executable by the processor to perform operations comprising:
 detecting, via a magnetic inductance antenna, that a user has entered a zone associated with a physical object; 
 sending, via a radio transceiver, a notification to a server that the user has entered the zone associated with the physical object; and 
 receiving a command via a radio antenna, the command including one or more actions that the physical object is capable of performing. 
   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein the operations further comprise determining a location of the user in three dimensional space. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 18 , wherein the operations further comprise instructing the physical object to perform the one or more actions based on the location of the user and based on the command. 
     
     
         20 . The system of  claim 17 , wherein, after detecting that the user has entered the zone, the operations further comprise automatically instructing the physical object to perform one or more actions.